As readers will recall, potential plans for a permeant UK film base and Harry Potter visitor attraction at Leavesden Studios, the home-base for the production of the Harry Potter films, has been in the news as proposals passed through city council boards. News has come today courtesy of the Wadford Observer that plans for the expansion have been approved by the Three Rivers District Council’s development control committee. The paper reports:

Warner Brothers, which has brought world-wide fame to the former aerodrome complex with its Harry Potter franchise, can now begin a programme of redevelopment worth an estimated Â£100million ’ creating hundreds of jobs and providing a boost to the local economy.

The company, which will now purchase the site outright and use it as its European filming base, will build new film stages, production and administration facilities.

It will also open a Harry Potter themed visitor attraction to cater for up to 5,000 visitors a day.

The site, set to open in 2012, will “offer tours of old Harry Potter film sets when production on the franchise comes to a conclusion later in the year.”Many thanks to Jodi for mailing!